Minnesota Wild feeling optimistic despite four-game skid

Minnesota's Mikko Koivu celebrates his game-winning goal with his teammates against the Ottawa Senators on Nov. 20, 2013, in Ottawa. (Photo by Jana Chytilova/Freestyle Photography/Getty Images)

Mikko Koivu was just minutes removed from the Wild's latest loss, a 3-2 shootout defeat Saturday night in Colorado, when he sat at his locker in the same dressing room where the Wild had clinched their first playoff berth in five years just seven months earlier.

He took a swig from a water bottle that was filled with chocolate protein powder and began to speak of the big picture surrounding the team.

Sure, the Wild had just lost their fourth game in a row, their first losing streak that large since March 2012. But because of the way they played and the point they earned thanks to Koivu's tying goal with six seconds remaining in regulation, the Wild captain was optimistic.

A lot has to change for this skidding team to regain the form that produced seven of eight games to open the month.

But Saturday, for the first time since the Wild began a tough stretch against Western Conference foes last Monday, they took a possible step toward becoming the team that dominated puck possession early in the season, yielding wins at a franchise-record pace.

They lost in a shootout Saturday, but for the first time since being blanked by St. Louis five days earlier, the Wild controlled play. For the first time in weeks, they dominated puck possession.

It was a sign of life, a sign of recovery for a team that badly needed it.

"It's not going to happen overnight, it's not going to be perfect, but that was a good step in the right direction," Koivu said at his locker after the game.

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"And we just have to keep on top of that."

The Wild felt they deserved two points with a regulation win Saturday, but after losing three straight in regulation, they were fine with a road point.

They easily could have earned two points, but again dug themselves a deficit.

For the seventh straight time, the Wild allowed the game's first goal. And then they allowed the second.

But for the first time in that stretch, they continued playing a puck-possession game despite the deficit. Falling behind early in recent games has led to an alteration in style.

"You want them to adjust to you, but when you're down, you have to adjust to what they're doing," Jason Pominville said recently.

The Wild's recent stretch has pitted them against top teams in the Western Conference and that will continue to for five of the next seven games.

Against those opponents, the Wild haven't been able to carry the puck into the offensive zone as much as they'd like because of the structure with which those teams play.

"If they're in perfect position, if they're in perfect posture, then you run the risk of turning the puck over, playing in your own zone and giving up scoring chances against," coach Mike Yeo said. "And not only that, you're hurting yourself offensively because you don't get an opportunity to create something in secondary situations, which would be getting in on the forecheck, getting in on the offensive zone."

Instead, the Wild maintained offensive pressure Saturday with a strong forecheck after getting the puck behind Avalanche defensemen. For most of the second and third periods, they controlled play.

Their strong puck possession game re-emerged after they had managed just two goals in their three previous games.

For a team that had struggled in those games, it was the first step to returning to the type of hockey the Wild want to play.

"In all honesty, it's been fair to say our game has been more down than up (recently)," Yeo said. "And the most important first step for us was to go out and play a really good game and play our game and have everyone on board doing it."